New York’s ‘Medical Aid in Dying’ Act would let patients who are deemed ‘terminally ill’ obtain euthanasia drugs with the approval of two doctors.
ALBANY (LifeSiteNews) -- The New York legislature has given final approval to a bill to make New York the latest state to allow assisted suicide, requiring only far-left Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul’s signature to become law.
The so-called "Medical Aid in Dying Act" would allow patients given a prognosis of six months or fewer to live to be prescribed euthanasia drugs, upon affirmation by two doctors that they have "decision-making capacity."
“I’m overjoyed that the Senate is now joining the Assembly in passing the Medical Aid in Dying Act — a truly historic and compassionate step forward for New York,” said Assembly sponsor Amy Paulin of the bill, which has the endorsement of the Medical Society of the State of New York, New York State Academy of Family Physicians, the New York State Psychiatric Association, the New York State Nurses Association, the New York State Bar Association, and Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York.
“After more than a decade of advocacy, we are finally on the brink of giving terminally ill New Yorkers the autonomy and dignity they deserve at life’s end," Paulin, a staunchly pro-abortion Democrat, said.
Many have a considerably more negative view, with the New York Post editorial board urging Hochul to veto and warning that the bill contains “no real mechanism for tracking how many deaths it brings: Some commissioner is supposed to review a ‘sample’ of patient medical records and produce a yearly report to the Legislature on how it’s going; that’s it.”
“Beyond the details, this is fundamentally about a reinvention of the medical profession: Out goes ‘do no harm,’ in comes a ‘calculation’ as to whether a given life is still worth living,” it continues. “With the state, and insurance companies, having a clear financial interest in ending ‘marginal’ lives and those whose care costs ‘too much.’”
Last month, Bishop Joseph Strickland reminded New York that “[t]rue compassion does not eliminate suffering by eliminating the one who suffers. Rather, it means walking with the sick and dying and offering authentic palliative care, emotional support, and spiritual accompaniment. It is in these moments – when we are most vulnerable – that we must be reminded that our worth is not measured by our health, our productivity, or our independence, but by the fact that we are beloved children of God who are made in His image and likeness.”
Patients Rights Action Fund (PRAF) executive director Matt Vallière recently described how current euthanasia programs in the United States constitute discrimination against patients with life-threatening conditions in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, as when a state will “will pay for every instance of assisted suicide” but not palliative care, “I don’t call that autonomy, I call that eugenics.”
Live Action’s Bridget Sielicki further notes that “because a paralytic is involved, a person can look peaceful, while they actually drown to death in their own bodily secretions. Experimental assisted suicide drugs have led to the ‘burning of patients’ mouths and throats, causing some to scream in pain.’ Furthermore, a study in the medical journal Anaesthesia found that a third of patients took up to 30 hours to die after ingesting assisted suicide drugs, while four percent took seven days to die.”
With the addition of New York, 12 U.S. states plus the District of Columbia will allow assisted suicide, according to the Post. Another bill to legalize euthanasia recently failed in Maryland, however.
